1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I’m writing to you because Trump wants to rename our military bases to once again honor traitors. I say again: traitors. Men like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and the war criminal Nathan Bedford Forrest. What I find especially ironic is that he’s doing this right after threatening to use the U.S. military against Americans citizens who were burning the flag in protest, an act of protected free speech. As a veteran, I’m appalled he would even consider this. One of the few great things President Biden did was end that stain on our military’s legacy. Naming bases after Confederate generals traitors to the Union was always insulting, and in many cases, those names were chosen deliberately as an act of defiance during the civil rights era. Can anyone seriously explain why a base was ever named after someone like Braxton Bragg? The man was a notoriously poor general, both in battle and leadership. The only reason his name was chosen was to send a message and that message wasn’t about honoring military excellence. Thankfully, that base has since been renamed to honor a heroic paratrooper, but the original naming was a political insult, plain and simple. I implore you do whatever you can to stop this madness. We should honor those who upheld the Constitution not those who betrayed it. Thank you.